Maybe America wasn't ready for a President like John
Kerry. So consumed with instant gratification and simplicity, a majority
of Americans saw thoughtful complexity and nuance as a negative. Or maybe,
as one voter put it, they chose George W. Bush because, "he's like me."
Why would you want the leader of the free world to be like us? He should
be better than us, and John Kerry is, in terms of leadership ability. He
has a wealth of experience, and breadth of knowledge not seen in a Presidential
candidate since John Quincy Adams. But alas, he too was defeated by a southerner
who had a "folksy" appeal. This is how the GOP kept the Presidency.

Besides retaining the White House, the Republicans
also managed to expand their majorities in both houses of Congress. The
Democrats now have to look for a new minority leader as well, because of
the defeat of South Dakota Democrat Sen. Tom Daschle. The odds on favorite
is Harry Reid of Nevada, but if Democrats want to really shake things up,
they should consider either Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold of or even Kerry.
The latter is more wishful thinking, though. The Democrats did have two
bright spots Tuesday night, electing both Barrack Obama and Ken Salazar
to first terms in the states of Illinois and Colorado, respectively.

But I will say this about Salazar's opponent, Pete
Coors. He lost the race in large part because he was against the death
penalty. This was brought up in attack ads against him, shamefully including
Osama Bin Laden, I might add. He could have easily hid this opinion, or
changed it to the consensus of the state, but as a man of principle he
stuck to his guns. Maybe I'm giving him too much credit, but he appears
to have chosen principle over popularity. "Principle" is a fleeting concept
in politics today, however. Or it has been terribly distorted.

But principle is not on the minds of media analysts
these days. Already the pundits and talking heads have begun to second
guess the Kerry campaign, asking where they went wrong. Why were they were
so out of touch with the electorate? "There's going to be a lot of re-strategizing
in the Democratic Party now," they say with smugness and gleam only a "liberal"
press can have. But is it the Democrats that really have the problem? What,
should the Democrats makes themselves appear more "common" now? Should
they buy into the theory that, "Guns, God, and Gays" are the issues that
need to be focused on? Shouldn't they simplify the policy issues and degrade
the discourse down to pathetic name calling, the way Bush did by using
the word "liberal," as if it was pejorative. Should their candidates resort
to fear mongering to sway the "security moms" the way Karl Rove and Karen
Hughes did, placing little kids in advertisements, while they criticized
Kerry for being "weak" on defense?

Yes, the Democrats do have internal problems. They
listen too much to the special interests, such as Jesse Jackson and Union
leaders, and bought into the "youth vote hype" that was nothing more than
a pathetic t-shirt campaign. But those are not the problems that emerged
out of this election. It wasn't Kerry who failed on Tuesday night; he didn't
lose. America failed, failed to focus on the real problems facing this
country, from the deficit to the health care crisis. Instead they focused
on trivial matters of other people's personal lives. It was Americans who
lost, lost the strength and will once shown during the Great Depression
and World War II, as they pathetically accept tax cuts as we fight wars
in both Afghanistan and Iraq. But the great thing about America is, unlike
our President, we can learn from our mistakes. But Democrats have to realize
this.

John F. Kennedy once said, "Conformity is the jailer
of freedom and the enemy of growth." So over the course of the next few
months, as the Democratic Party reflects on what they have to do, they
must listen to the man who inspired most of them into government again.
Do not conform to the politics of "dumbing" down America, offering simplistic
answers to complicated questions.

Don't conform to the notion that the world is black
and white, and must be dealt with as such. Don't conform to the media's
perception of campaigning, in which the candidate with the best sound bite
wins. Democrats don't need to be more like Republicans, they need to forge
a new, more precise way to lead the country, and they must do it now because
the erosion of our political system has taken its toll.